A VICARIOUS VIEWPOINT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 139, 9 December 1911, Page 14

A VICARIOUS VIEWPOINT.

CUSTOMS OF THE CONSERVATIVE

CHINESE. His riame was. Li Tak Shon. We met. I said : "Mr. -Li— — In China they reverse the order of things; the first ■ name is the family name. If I had -been on familiar terms with Li I would probably have called him Shen- , nie. "let us take a walk 'i'^ n Poo-chow-road." He shook hand* .withhimself In Chin.i you don't 'shake hands witk you? * friends ; ' you shake hnnds with your- • iclt " Unsatisfactory, but it's the custom of the country. ; . — and together WG^tplied. , Ahead' of us \*is a bareheaaCfl^Onineibo woman. ,SHe hitched up her trousers- 4 -— . The ladies don't wear petti, ajats in China j, their troutars are I tie same width all the way r*own, and don't bag at Qic knees. .The men tie theirs around the ankles, ——and looked down at her three-and-a-half-inch-long-feet — £he Chinese women com* press their feet until they are reduced to proportions that make running for a train an impossibility ; it keeps their nerves from being upset by rush eir"cum> stances. and the vanity cost her ncr dignity. The coolie who bumped into her while her eyes were .downcast, and knocked her off her stump feet, had a hat on. Li rebuked him for his care* lessness. The coolie took, his hat off. Ia struck him— It is an insult to take your hat off ■ while talking to a man in China. .It makes you feel anxious about that bald patch on top whott , you've to keep your hat on indoors. But, no matter, it's the custom of the coun- ' try. ———•and turning to m© said : "The impudence of the labouring classes is truly remarkable these times." Aft we turned into a cafe wo'met a mutual friend dressed in white. "I have just buried my wife/ 1 he explained . When you go into mourning in China you put on white clothing to demonstrate your grief ; and you look with the sad eye on youv washing bill. -and we sat down, to .eat with our hata on, Li tm ,my left Your 'guest of honour, you Slace on your left hancf in hina; and if a fresh guest arrives it's a case of move down one for all hands so as to allow him to take his place on your left. went through the whole course, beginning with almonds and raisins and finishing with sharks-fin soup— • The order of the menu is, like most things in China, taken backwards, ——and he sighed when it wt* ftll

over. "Did you find marriod lite a success? ' he sulked our mourning friend. /•Well," said the outwardly diacouoolate on*, scratching hh hool-— Tl>e Chinese scratch their heels when puzzled ; it saves wear and tear at a place v.r Europeans are solicitous about. "I haven't made up ngp mind yet. Yes, we were happy: sljo w«pt a bucketful wh*?' We wci> married Tha Oiiuiose Vide cries like anything when «he is attending- the function which makes }v <• the happiest i woman in the 'world, ———and nothing ever saddened he* aftvwor(k." We walked down the .street as tiid night grew darker. \V* hoard the watchmen beating their to»tt« toi;) drums—— Thfe 1 watchman in Shanghai maktes a noiie to frighten awiji^ the thieves ; lie doesn't belifcvo in your ' rubber-shoe metiibds of catdhing hisiburglavj, and i saw the people eating in the restaurant*;; the men being shaved in the barber^ shops; the patients howling as the dentists wrenched their teem out^— - . The Irtish of, privacy is, one thajj doesn't worry a Chinee*) iii the slightest; publicity matters not. the' old men -flying their kites—— Yojur old man in China enjoys his primitive aViation sports ; in faot, flying kites ,- . is; something 'tf or the child to ' '• look forward to' when he 1 is old — 7— -anti, noticing that, there was something esethv going, 1/ asked* Li the date. He gatfe me the year, the month, an<| at last, the day T Tihis habit of reversing is ' ( ev.au in the calendar*; . you \ tejl a man .what, he' wants ' J to know most after you've 1 told him what he already knows. "T «i»* I wae, after ho had run .through, the formula, made aware that it was the eve of the Chines© Now Year. Later we sat on the piazza of the Astwr House, Shanghai's greatest foreign caravanserai, and watched the totmst Kadfes with their large feet, the>> tightly.<si>mpressed waists, their enormous Pairip models' on their heads, and Bheir voluminous skirts. We saw th* male toajnsts with, the American accent take tiff ;bhe,ir ha.l<to'tliem as they s >.nas6» ed on thi> garden paths, and saw 'them 1 hang up 'their hats on the pegs as they sat down at the f -tables Avith'the ladies, in the' diningttooin. Li watched mo as* I took a^ quantity; of,. fiery spirit,/ pu£ some ie«- in it to make it Cold, /some lemon in it';to make it sour, anchsomtf sugar in 'it to make it sweet. " "Truly',, I ', he murmured, "you Euroj peans are. tt people of strange anomalies.'* ■— A.J., in Sydney Mail. ■ j